PARIS – The Dakar Rally, the epic motorcycle, car and truck race across the Sahara Desert, was canceled yesterday by organizers citing direct threats of terrorism from al-Qaeda-linked militants.
CHRISTOPHE ENA / Associated Press
A police officer guarded race cars yesterday in Lisbon, Portugal, after the Amaury Sport Organization, citing threats from terror groups, canceled the Dakar Rally. Eight stages of the race, which was to start today, would have been in Mauritania, where a French family was killed in a Christmas Eve attack blamed on al-Qaeda-linked militants.
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The race was deemed too inviting – and too easy – a target for the terror group's new North African affiliate. The roughly 550 competitors were to have embarked today on the 16-day, 5,760-mile trek through remote and hostile dunes and scrub from Europe to Senegal in West Africa.
Organizers of the rally, once known as the Paris-Dakar, cited warnings from the French government about safety after the al-Qaeda-linked Dec. 24 slayings of a family of French tourists in Mauritania – where eight of the competition's 15 stages were to be held – and “threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations.”
It was the first time that the 30-year-old rally, one of the biggest competitions in automobile racing, has been called off. The Dakar is one of the most prominent public events to be canceled since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, when many sporting events in the United States were canceled or postponed – some as a result of airport closings or in mourning for the victims.
The cancellation of such a world-renowned sports event is rare, particularly as a pre-emptive measure against terrorism. Even the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich continued, after a 34-hour pause, after 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed by Palestinian gunmen.
Victor Anderes, vice president of special projects at Global Security Associates, a New York-based company that provides security for high-profile events including the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, called the cancellation unprecedented.
“The threat is significant,” Anderes said. “It would be almost impossible to secure the entire course.” He said the race is particularly vulnerable because it crosses borders and large, unpopulated areas.
“When you are told of direct threats against the event and when the sinister name of al-Qaeda is mentioned, you don't ask for details,” said Patrice Clerc, who heads the company that organizes the rally. “It was enough for me to hear my government say, 'Beware, the danger is at a maximum.' ”
Experts cautioned – as Western governments have often warned – that bowing to terror threats could encourage more violence. They said al-Qaeda's North African wing had scored propaganda points as it seeks to increase its reach in the region.
“They scored a media victory without firing a shot,” said Louis Caprioli, a former assistant director at France's counterintelligence agency DST. “Everybody gets the impression that they are very powerful, when they in fact represent a small number of people in this region.”
Adam Raisman, senior analyst at the SITE Institute in Washington, said that “the jihadist Internet community is quite happy with the closing, seeing it as a victory.”
Al-Qaeda in Islamic North Africa is the new name of an Algeria-based insurgent group known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, or GSPC. Al-Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, first recognized a “blessed union” between the two groups on Sept. 11, 2006.
The race had been due to start in Lisbon, Portugal, today and finish in Dakar, Senegal, on Jan. 20.
